FYAD 1080A: Learning to Look

Reference Books

Atkins, R. (1997). Art speak: A guide to contemporary ideas, movements, and buzzwords, 1945 to the present. New York: Abbeville Press.
Using a who-what-when-where approach, the author illustrates the various artistic genres, movements, and vocabulary of the world of contemporary art from 1945 until the present.
Reference N6490.A87 1997

Atkins, R. (1993). Art spoke: A guide to modern ideas, movements, and buzzwords, 1848-1944. New York: Abbeville Press.
This companion volume to Art Speak uses the same format of who-what-when-where to illuminate the art movements of 1848 to 1944.
Reference N6447.A85 1993

Chilvers, I. (2003). The concise Oxford dictionary of art and artists. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The dictionary provides an authoritative and up-to-date guide to Western art from Ancient Greece to the present. It includes more than 2000 entries that cover artists, art terminology, media, and styles.
Online N33.C44 1996b

Chilvers, I. (Eds.). (2004). The Oxford dictionary of art. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
This volume compiles and updates information on painting, sculpture, graphics arts, and design from other Oxford publications. It contains over 3000 entries, includes a chronology, and provides an index of galleries and museums.
Online N33 .C44 1997b
Reference N33 .O93 1997

Clarke, M., & Clarke, D. (2003). The concise Oxford dictionary of art terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
This dictionary provides definitions of over 1,700 terms used in the world of the visual arts.
Online N33 .C575 2001b

Dempsey, A. (2002). Art in the modern era : A guide to styles, schools & movements 1860 to the present. New York: Harry Abrams.
Reference N6490 .D415 2002

Gardner, H. (2003). Gardner's art through the ages: The western perspective. Belmont, CA: Thomason/Wadsworth.
This textbook is a classic. It was designed for an undergraduate survey course and covers all periods.
Reference N5300 .G25 2003

Honour, H., & Fleming, J. (1995). The visual arts: A history. New York: Abrahms.
This resources covers art throughout the ages and across the world. It includes a helpful glossary and a bibliography of other resources.
Reference N5300 .H68 1995

Janson, H.W., & Janson, A.F. (1997). History of art. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
This comprehensive volume covers the world of art. It presents its topic by breaking it into time periods, such as "The Ancient World" or "The Modern World," and then taking a detailed look at the movements and places within each period. It has a decidedly western slant as Asian art is not included.
Reference N5300 .J3 1997.

Roberts, H.E. (Ed.). (1998). Encyclopedia of comparative iconography: Themes depicted in works of art. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Entries are written by experts in the field of the arts. Essays cover artists' uses and interpretations of themes from mythology, religion, and literature across time and culture.
Reference N7565 .E53 1998

Sayre, H.M. (2002). Writing about art. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
This simple volume provides guidance to writers in how to describe and interpret art so that their writings will have impact. It details all steps of the writing process from selecting a work of art, to researching it, to writing.
Reference N7476 .S29 2002

Books in the Main Stacks

You can find books in that you can check out by selecting the "catalog" link from the library website. Once you are in the catalog you can type in your keywords, which for this class, may be the artist's name, time period, or type of art (e.g., modernism).